Expert says U.S. executives need to ‘pick a side’ over China

Some of the most successful people in business who head some of the most powerful financial institutions in the world are being called out over their continued business with one of the biggest adversaries facing the U.S.

During an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Hudson Institute senior fellow and Atlas Organization founder Jonathan D.T. Ward called out U.S. executives for their disregard of China’s human rights violations while they attended a business summit in Hong Kong this week.

“The city of Hong Kong, which is fully under PRC [People’s Republic of China] control, is cracking down,” Ward said. “To see Wall Street executives sort of proceeding with business as usual, I mean, they have to ultimately get on the right side of history, of human rights, and of U.S. national security.”

The summit is currently taking place with U.S. executives while pro-democracy activist and Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is on trial. Lai was accused by the Chinese government of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publish “seditious” material.

The Chinese government is blaming Lai, who is a British citizen, for the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests that broke out in 2019, and since 2020, Lai has been held in solitary confinement.

“Dad had a very clear choice. He could either leave—he’s a British citizen, so he could go to the UK to retire, or campaign from abroad—or stay and defend his people. We honor the decision he made, and I’m incredibly proud he made that decision.”

—Sebastien Lai, son of Jimmy… pic.twitter.com/RSlYMuAR3F

— #FreeJimmyLai (@SupportJimmyLai) November 21, 2024

The U.S. executives attending the Hong Kong summit include Marc Rowan, Apollo Global Management CEO; Jonathan Gray, president of Blackstone; David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs Banking; and Jane Fraser, president of Citigroup.

Ward stated China is funding U.S. adversaries and is using Hong Kong to further push its agenda.

“There was a really important report this week published by the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission that had this to say about Hong Kong – it has a growing role as the central sanctions evasion hub, and transshipment center for illicit finance and technology to Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”

Ward pointed out China backs this entire axis as it pursues its own campaign to undermine and displace the United States, but there is still a good chance the U.S. can fight back.

“There’s a giant opportunity for the new Trump administration to start winning against Beijing again, to get back to where they left off at the end of Trump one, where you had this really rapid… succession of policy action against Chinese companies, against the PRC and the CCP,” Ward said.

According to Bartiromo, the Hong Kong Democracy Council also called out U.S. executives and said their continued participation in doing business in China, despite warnings against it, “should be a cause for concern for the U.S. government.”

Ward said Trump would have to go ahead with several policies to keep China at bay, including imposing tariffs on Chinese goods.

“You can’t have Beijing earning capital in the U.S. markets and using that to finance grand strategy to build the Belt and Road Initiative, to deepen their presence in strategic industries and emerging technologies.”

Ward noted China’s entire rise to prominence has to do with the fact China has had access to the U.S. market. Cutting China off from those markets will cut down their surpluses, and then eventually China’s growth.

“Then you have to go after the Chinese companies. I mean, there’s a very long list of strategic corporations that can be hit with U.S. sanctions across the board in technology and banking… in manufacturing, and pretty much the whole state-owned sector, which spans pretty much everything. I think that’s a really juicy target set for an incoming administration,” Ward said.

Ward stated the U.S. can still turn the tide by being victorious through economic dominance and making sure China is unable to maintain the position it has built itself through being a trading partner for dozens of developing nations.

“That’s how you begin to change the game, because the path to victory is all about American economic dominance, and making sure that China does not succeed in maintaining the position it has built as the centerpiece of global goods trade, as the dominant trading partner for… dozens and dozens of nations around the world and entire regions now, Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia, they’ve succeeded at doing that,” Ward noted.

“If we start to cut off access to our own market, and also to North America because we can’t let their companies go through Mexico, you have to shut those down as well. Make sure the tariffs follow Chinese companies,” Ward said, adding if this happens, Chinese diplomatic power will begin to roll back as they lose their influence.

Good to join @MariaBartiromo on @FoxBusiness this morning on China, tariffs, and trade.

We can’t have Beijing earning capital in the US market, says China expert https://t.co/8pKaRqLbNV #FoxBusiness

— Dr. Jonathan D. T. Ward (@jonathandtward) November 22, 2024